The Formation of Romantic Relationships - AO1

Reward/Need Satisfaction Theory (Byrne and Clore)
1. Rewards and punishments
  1. rewarding stimuli = positive feelings
  2. punishing stimuli = negative feelings
  3. operant conditioning
    1. Likely to repeat behaviour that leads to a desirable outcome/avoid ones that lead to undesirable outcome
  4. presence of some individuals is is associated with reinforcement which makes them more attractive to us
2. Attraction through association
  1. classical conditioning
  2. like people associated with pleasant events
  3. positive mood
  4. we become attracted to someone due to associating them with a pleasant experience
  5. when positive feelings outweigh negative ones = formation of relationship
3. theory suggests we are attracted to people who we find satisfying/gratifying
4. suggests we are motivated to seek rewarding stimuli and avoid punishing stimuli
5. rewards reflect unmet needs e.g. company/financial security
Similarity (Byrne, Clore & Smeaton)
1. Personality
  1. research suggested that we are more attracted to others who have similar personality traits, e.g. 2 hard working people
  2. it has been suggested that similarity is often the rule in long-term relationships
    1. Caspi + Herbener - found married couples with similar personalities = more happier
2. Attitudes
  1. may be the case that those who have similar attitudes are more attracted to one another
  2. research has suggested that a process of 'attitude alignment' may occur - partners modify attitudes to become more similar
3. 2 distinct stages = sorting people for dissimilarity and avoiding those who appear too different and then choose from the remaining someone who is similar to themself.

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The Formation of Romantic Relationships - AO1

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	Created by lauren-oke over 11 years ago